Prevacid for Acid Reflux in Infants

My son started prevacid when he was about 2 months old. It was a life saver! We were able to wean him off around 10 months when more of his food was solid. We never had any side effects and haven't seen any problems. He is 23 months now and totally normal. I'd never hesitate to recommend that you use it.

We waited to start the Prevacid until my son was 2 and now my son has noduals on his voice box that will probably not go away naturally. He is now 7 and he went to voice therapy to try to correct the problem, but the acid reflux simply went untreated too long and this is the result. He now takes the Prevacid daily and I don't know that he will ever stop. It took some time to become comfortable regarding when to give it to him and to adjust to doing it everyday, but it takes about 10 days before the medicine begins to work consistently in our experience.

I used prevacid from the age of 4 weeks to 1 year in 2 of my kids and they did fine... no problems in fact it worked great... also, SOY formula can be harder on the tummy than milk. be careful because milk protiens are natural to us and soy is not... Soy is on the list of popular allergens and many people falsly believe that it is not an allergen.
Also switching formulas can cause more problems as well... stick with the origonal formula your dr says you should use and try the prevacid...

A note about the prevacid you have to use it regularly for it to work properely. It can take a couple of weeks to get it in the system but if you use it as directed it works great. we found that taking 1/2 solutab in the AM and 1/2 in the Pm worked best for us. We noticed when we missed a dose it would be worse.

we tried zantac as a first step and that did not work for my 2 younger ones but for my older one it did.

with my middle son we had to add Bethanochol (sp) to get the best result because his reflux was so severe... if you still have problems see a GI Doc but switching formulas can make it worse.

Simply thinck is great for thickening and reducing the spit up but it does not reduce the acid in the stomach that actually causes the burn.

Good luck
A. J

We put our son on prevacid when he was 6 weeks. He was just so miserable. I had tried taking out dairy from my diet but it didn't help at all (except I lost the baby weight quickly without dairy!). Like others have said, it doesn't control the actual spitting up, just the pain involved with it. It was so helpful to us. He was on it until he was almost a year old. He is almost 2 now and there are no problems. It helped so much for him. He was constantly crying before prevacid. Once he was on it for about a week, he stopped being miserable. No more pain! I would totally recommend putting your son on it. It is life changing.
Also, my son would spit up purple granules from the prevacid....the Dr. said it was normal...just left over dye/residue from the medication. But just know, if your son spits up little purple granules...like little grains of purple salt....IT STAINS! Treat it with a Shout stick so you don't have to wash it right away. But don't just leave it in the laundry without treating it. Or it won't come out. I learned that the hard way. :)

My son was on Prevacid from 2-6 months. I would totally use it again. I didn't see any side effects, except that around 6 months he started spitting up more! We upped his dose and it got worse. Finally, one day, I just didn't give it to him, and it was MUCH better. Weird, huh? He did still spit up a little (until he was almost a year old), but not enough to require medicine. I guess his body just had enough of it and was giving up the reflux itself. So, just watch your baby, follow what the doctor says, but ultimately try what you think might work for your baby.
Again, I know he needed it while he was on it, and it helped so much until the very end, so I would do it again in a heartbeat!
Also, many people will talk to you about the milk allergy or that it may be something you are eating and getting into your breastmilk, and it truly could be, but it wasn't for me. I changed many things in my diet including taking out all dairy, and nothing helped. And...he definitely does not have a milk allergy. So, try all the changes for a little while, if you think it might help, but don't worry if not. For most babies, including mine, he kept down breastmilk much better than formula, no matter what I ate. The prevacid should really help.
Hope it does!!
EDIT - I read another post and remembered...my pedi told me that prevacid only reduces the acid that makes the reflux painful...it doesn't necessarily reduce the amount of spit up. We chose to go on the prevacid because my son was in much pain. On the prevacid, I think he did spit up less, but he still did spit up alot (compared to other babies around him), he just didn't care. Once I took him off, he was spitting up less and it still didn't hurt him, so that's why I kept him off after 6 months. You're still stuck with a life of laundry and burp rags in every inch of your house even on the medicine...sorry!

You know, we also were hesitant. But, we had to remember that our daughter was in pain. She is now 7 months & has been on the Prevacid about 5 months. We will most likely be able to take her off soon. It has made a huge difference, but the most benefit came after a few weeks of regular doses. Best wishes to you and your little one!

Hi K.,
My son was started on Prevacid at 4 months. It helped some but not enough. I tried about every bottle, formula and position for him. Nothing worked until we got him on Zantac liquid. I would use it again. My first son was a happy spitter with no pain. I did nothing but clean up alot until he stopped when he started sitting up. My youngest wasn't so lucky, he was in bad pain. So we choose to use meds.
Best Regards,
C.

We used it for our son with no side effects. However my Dr did tell us it wont really help with the amount of spitting up. It just lessens the acid content so they are not as miserable and in pain.

We ended up taking him off of it because he wasnt in a lot of pain and that was what it was mostly for. We started using simply thick to thicken his formula and it was a miracle for us. He went from spitting up half his bottle to practically nothing. That stuff was amazing and is basically calorie free gelatin so it didnt have any side effects at all.

My daughter took Prevacid the entire 1st year of her life. It was an absolute life saver! She was in terrible pain with Reflux and was inconsolable. It took us a while to figure out the dosage and what time of day was the best to take the medicine, but it was very necessary. We didn't experience any side effects, and her reflux was under control by about 14 months old. Good luck

Let me tell you, we put my 8 month old on Prevacid and the one major side effect that he had: He quit spitting up! It was wonderful. He was a happy refluxer anyway, but the Prevacid worked great. At around 13 months, we were able to take him off the medicine completely and he is doing great. I have noticed no difference in him on the medicine or off the medicine, just no spitting or throwing up. Sure hope this helps you.

We used Prevacid with both of our boys, it works so much better than the other options (such as Zantac).

I also saw someone else mention Simply Thick. We used it with our second son (it wasn't out yet with our oldest) and it was a miracle for us. It has no calories, it's just a gel you put in the formula. You can't find it at all pharmacies though so you would need to look it up online, their website gives a list of places that sell it.